Sundram Fasteners: Where daughters have taken the wheel

Arundathi Krishna and Arathi Krishna (Illustration by Suneesh Kalarickal)

One of the oldest family business groups in Tamil Nadu has been in the news for completing a major restructuring exercise. 

The over-a-century-old TVS Group has legally divided their empire into four, distinct entities. It undoubtedly marks the beginning of a new chapter, one which gives each of the companies more freedom to innovate and be more responsive to the market.

Also read: TVS & Sons needs a new purpose, group companies freer to chart their own course

It is a good time to see who will lead the charge.

At Sundram Fasteners, it will be the daughters of Suresh Krishna–Arathi and Arundathi Krishna.

It is a poorly kept secret in India that family businesses rarely pass the baton to women. That is a privilege usually saved for the male members of the family. At Sundram Fasteners, a renowned high-precision component maker for automobile and other sectors, there is a rare and welcome departure from that trend.

Suresh Krishna has three daughters–Arathi, Arundhati and the eldest Preethi. The younger two daughters are piloting the business, while Preethi has restricted her involvement to holding a board position.

Arathi and Arundathi had remained in the background until recently. Only a few years ago, Suresh Krishna officially introduced them to the press in Chennai.

Both are highly educated and have undergone a demanding training process.

Managing director Arathi Krishna underwent on-the-job training in the US after doing her MBA. At SFL, she began her career in 1990 as a Management Trainee. It was after eight years that she was given the keys to the proverbial corner office. 

In 1993, she was appointed the Manager – Business Strategy and Systems and, in 1998, she was promoted as a General Manager.

After eight more years, in 2006, she was made the Managing Director.

Arundathi’s career trajectory was a bit different, with her working initially at America-On-Line Netscape, San Francisco, USA, and then as a freelance journalist in the 90s, contributing to The Hindu publications. She also had a stint with erstwhile Pond’s (India) Limited (an outfit of Hind Lever of former times) as a Brand Manager in 1996. 

It was only in 1997 that she joined Sundram Fasteners as Manager-Business Strategy and Systems.

Here, she structured and developed the Gear Shifter Assembly Project and was part of the implementation of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and Total Quality Management (TQM) practices.

Today, she takes an active interest in the operations of overseas subsidiaries.

She was appointed as a Whole-time Director of the company in September, 2008. She was re-designated as Deputy Managing Director on May 30, 2013 and was given the position of the Joint Managing Director in April, 2018.

(This is a multi-part series on the next-generation leaders at the formerly TVS Group.)